GEORGE TOWN: Three Myanmar factory workers were slashed to death, while another was seriously injured in an attack by at least eight men armed with parangs in Prai here, earlier this morning.

In the 6.30am incident, the assailants arrived in four motorcycles at the victims’ hostel in Lorong Nagasari 1.

Police investigating the case say at the time, three victims aged between 26 and 33, were taking a shower at the porch of the hostel.

A neighbour told police that he witnessed the brutal slashing, where the men first slashed two men then later decapitated their heads.

Another victim, who was showering with the two men, fled the scene.

A fellow countryman who came to look at the commotion was fatally slashed as well.

The deceased have been identified as Naing Win, 28, Kyaw Hoe, 33, while the third body has yet to be identified.

The victims were employees of a factory producing fasteners in the nearby Bukit Tengah.

According to Central Seberang Prai police chief ACP Rusli Md Noor, police have so far detained 15 men to assist investigations into the murders. The suspects, aged between 22 and 38, were co-workers and housemates of the victims.